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I am probable getting ahead of myself at this point anyway. This project has a dead line of next hunting season, so no big rush. I have been invited to go out west on a prairie dog hunt with some fellas that big time long range shooters. Maybe you have heard me talk about it before. David Tubbs comes out to Montana every year to shoot with my buddies. I cant go this year because i am going to Canada fishing but next year i will go. I just want a rifle in the 6.5 cal that i can shoot coyotes out to 5-600 yards and maybe shoot one of those Prairie rats say out to 1000 yards. The guys i am going with will not shoot at them much closer than that. I guess it is kind of a waste to shoot the 408 chey-tac at closer ranges. The one friend i have trains shooters at Black Water and has bee to Iraq a few time to take care of business. He also is a doctor and has plenty of money to fund his habits. I just don't want to be out of place when I go. Out skilled is one thing, I just want to have good enough equipment to shoot half of what they will shoot. Thanks lee
Skeets...
This is a whole different ballgame.
Prairie Dogs are little (1 pound~ish), and they don't take that much killin'...
You will totally wreck a 260 or 264 barrel in one day on a dog town.
Killin' PDs is not about power, it's about being able to see your misses (I got THAT tee shirt, in spades).
A local guy built a very expensive 7mm Rem Mag in a 17 pound bench grade rifle to take out for his first dog shoot, and hit four dogs at longish ranges - he then spend the rest of the three days shooting dogs at 100 to 200 yds, because he couldn't hit at long ranges, in spite of the fact that he had spent $3,500+ on rifle and scope
A decent shooter will kill 20 times the dogs at 600 to 700 yds with a high quality .223, 204, or (heavy) .220 Swift, as you will with a .260 or 264WM.
You need to rethink this 6.5 obsession, and down size.
If you want one rifle to do it all (not a good idea), get a Rem Varmint Special in .243Win, and load 87 V-Maxs - it'll turn coyotes inside out (it is NOT "Fur friendly")... and though it is way over powered for PD's, it will get you by, and it will handle "medium game".
You are far better off getting two rifles... a 700 VS in 204, and a "Somfin else" for medium game!
For my first dog trip, I brought a 14 pound .22-250, a 13 pound .222 Mag, and an 11 pound .222 (cuz they were what I owned at the time).
Each of us took 7,000 rounds each - I shot all of the 222 and 222 Mag, and less than 100 rounds of .22-250, cuz I couldn't see my misses, so I couldn't correct for follow-up shots.
The best .222 Mag shot was 853 yds, and after four days, it was no problem taking dogs well past 500yds on a fairly regular basis.
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"The one friend i have trains shooters at Black Water and has bee[n] to Iraq a few time to take care of business. He also is a doctor and has plenty of money to fund his habits."
"Nurse, cancel my open heart surgery patients this week and move them to next week, I have to run down to North Carolina and train a few snipers at Black Water, then on Thursday, we're zippin' over to Iraq to whack a few Al-Qaeda."
... why does that not make sense, and sound like a bad movie script???
James "Flint" Coburn, where are you, now that we need you???
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